Ohio cut its traditional sweep chant short.
The Bobcats wanted to get out and enjoy their 3-1 win over No. 7 Stony Brook on Saturday night for their first series sweep in three weeks.
Ohio received a much-needed boost as the season continues to move to a close. The Seawolves came into the series just two spots ahead of the Bobcats in the national rankings, but the sweep will help Ohio move up in a close-knit top 10.
“It’s always good to see (at) this point in the season,” goaltender Jimmy Thomas said, “especially when it comes against a team ranked higher than us. Hopefully, it bumps us up in the ranking. We are going to need that going forward.”
Saturday night’s game, much like the result Friday night, was a battle of two equal teams. The Bobcats and the Seawolves were both able to limit their mistakes, but both sides, however, were able to find quality shots.
The difference in the game was the goaltending.
Thomas was a wall for Ohio in game two. The goalie allowed just one goal and had a save percentage of 96%. Meanwhile, his counterpart Sean Keating allowed three goals and had an 88% save percentage.
The most impressive of Thomas’ saves came in the second period when he had stopped the initial shot. However, the puck still managed to get past Thomas. The Ohio goalie went into scramble mode and prevented the puck from crossing the goal line.
“First off, where is it?” Thomas said about the puck going behind him. “Second, is anyone else around me? Third, hopefully, cover it or get it out of there. It’s a quick process, but you kind of just spazz out for a second and then recognize where everything is.”
The result of this series was an all-around effort by the Bobcats. When two fairly equal teams face off like these two, the smallest mistake can become a big one. The whole team stepped up this series to get the job done.
“Our team as a whole played great this weekend,” Thomas said. “We probably could have won Friday a little easier. We just took our foot off the gas at times. Other than that, we played great all weekend.”
